Modern computer operating systems can be configured to support multiple users and to manage multiple user accounts by creating independent user sessions for each user on a single computing system (e.g., a personal computer). A user may simply log off his own session to allow another user to log on without being required to turning off the computer system.
Prior to allowing a user access to a session, a logon and authentication process is invoked which often includes prompting the user to enter a password that was previously established when the user account for the computer system was created. A conventional logon and authentication process can include prompting the user to enter their password, and retrieving the user's previously encrypted and stored password for comparison. Based on the results of the comparison, the user is provided access to their session.
The conventional authentication process described above requires that an encrypted password file be retrieved from a storage device and decrypted. Moreover, such a conventional process often requires several secondary applications (e.g., other than the primary logon application) to be invoked to perform the logon and authentication process. This can lead to an inefficient use of memory and processor cycles, and could translate into unnecessary delays in the logon process.